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The Lord blessed me again with this awesome buck today. Crazy thing is I passed this buck up twice on two different days, totally mis judged his size. Today not sure what it was but I saw his antlers in a different light and decided he was good enough. He walked right under my stand and I was lucky enough for a 7 yard shot. A quick score before he went in the freezer came up with 109 2/8". His size was very deceiving, and his mass added up. And before anyone asks, I was alone, didn't have 20 guys on 20 different hills, didnt use radios, also the closest power lines were at least 14 miles away! I thought about posting this in the classifieds, but didn't want to anger Stanley 😬

After a couple missed opportunities Friday and Saturday, a buddy’s son spotted this guy bedded at 288 yards. My son decided it was the deer for him and the rest is history. Fantastic hunt and experience. Couldn’t be prouder

My 2024 Bull. I waited 13 years for this tag. I shot this bull solo a few days into the Hunt. I’m very thankful I had some luck come my way during the whole Hunt. I really hope I don’t have to wait another 13 years for a tag. Cheer and happy Hunting.

Well I’ll start off by saying this was one of the most challenging hunts of my life. I scouted my unit two weeks prior to the hunt and turned up two good shooter bucks. Not a ton of animals but the two I saw would work! Fast forward to the day prior to opening day and I was unable to locate these bucks I had seen scouting. I had a few friends with me for the first weekend of the season to help. Opening morning, zero antelope were observed. Decided to pull audible and head to an area that was known to have antelope, but I had never been before. For the next six days I mainly hunted in this area. Got after quite a few antelope, some that were nice bucks some that were just ok. Definitely not the numbers of animals I had hoped for. Some of the stalks ranged from crawling hundreds of yards in the wide open flats to trying to get close in the juniper’s. I probably had three stalks that I got within 75 yards of a buck. One that I was at full draw on but, the buck and does spooked about one second before my pins were settled. On Monday morning, my buddy left and I was solo the rest of the hunt. After chasing bucks all around the country, I started seeing less and less antelope. On day eight of the hunt, I decided to try a different area about two hours away. I arrived at this area in the late morning. I immediately glassed up a shooter buck with a few does. I decided to sit a water nearby in hopes to they would come in for a drink. From about 9:30am to dusk I sat this tank and they never showed. The next morning (Day 9), I glassed up the buck and does in a good spot. While stalking the buck, I had a good ole experience of Arizona combat hunting. Long story short the buck was spooked by another hunter when I was within 100 yards of the antelope. After this, I did some glassing around the area and did not see many antelope. Just a lot of hunters… I decided once again to call an audible. I drove back to the area I had been previously hunting. I put a stalk on a smaller buck that I thought would be a sure thing. Wasn’t the case. There were other antelope with him that I did not see. With the help of a decoy I got somewhat in range. Missed a longer shot and a closer shot due the buck matrixing my arrow. After this, I decided to make sure my bow was still on. Good thing I did… My bow was still on but, my rangefinder decided to bite the dust. Thankfully I had a backup with me. For the next hour, I got stuck my truck while a monsoon decided to dump rain and hail. After the cell passed, I continued to an area where I had stalked a buck with 10 does multiple time with no avail. After arriving at this spot, it took a bit but I was able to locate the herd at the base of a small Mesa. I had stalked them previously and knew that went up to the top of this Mesa to feed. I then set off on a nice two mile bow hike. I reached the area that I thought I may be able to see them and I did! I then skirted the rim of the Mesa and got within 200 yards of the heard but I ran out of juniper cover. I decided to sit by this last juniper hoping they would do what they had done in the past. After the antelope got up from being bedded for about 30 minutes, they slowly started in my direction. After what seemed to be forever, the does were about 45 yards from me, but the buck was hanging back. The buck finally came in! At 72 yards… I dialed, drew back and the shot broke. He was quartered away and it was windy. I hit him in the back ham and the exit was middle middle. I immediately saw blood on both sides of the buck. He quickly ran off 20-30 yards with the does but then stopped. After the does ran off he took a few more steps and bedded. He was not doing well. I stalked into to about 50 yards and put follow up shot in him and the deal was done! Spot and stalk antelope on day nine never felt more rewarding! Not a big buck by any stretch but I was super happy!

What a day this was. Went out for a solo hunt. shortly after day light I had glassed up a group of 6 mule deer bucks. I watched them for almost 2 hours waiting for the right opportunity to make my move. I snuck in from just over a mile away and watched/studied from 300 yards out trying to figure the best way to make this opportunity work in my favor. The wind was in my favor, and I had very little cover to close the distance. I ended up at the last juniper tree between me and the 6 bedded bucks. I peeked around the shaded side of the tree just to get caught by the small 2x2 in the group at 91 yards. All the deer got up and were on edge and ended up busting out. I watched them go over the next ridge and then hiked back to my jeep. I sat there contemplating if I wanted to try again and locate these bucks or push farther up the road and hike into a water hole I had found on onx. I said screw it drove farther up and then hiked in 1.5 miles to the water hole I had never seen before. Lucky for me it had water and quite a bit of deer tracks. I brushed myself in a blind and sat down at about 11. It was pretty warm out and I was hot from the hike in. But by 215 this buck showed up and was on water drinking out of nowhere. I ranged it at 41 yards while he was facing me head down drinking. I got up on my knees and drew back. He lifted his head after drinking and looked over to his right while elbow deep in the mud. I debated for a second to let him turn or just send it head on into his chest. I felt super confident in the shot, so I let it rip. The arrow smacked the deer with the loudest thud I have ever herd shooting an animal with my bow. He dropped in his tracks and flopped for a few seconds, and it was all over. I packed up my gear and hiked around to check out what I had just shot. I knew he was a solid buck but definitely wasn't expecting to shoot my biggest coues yet off a random water hole in an area I never hunted before. My gut was telling me he might break 100" mark, but I didn't spend a lot of time admiring him as I had to get to work taking care of the meat and getting it all packed out. After just over a 2mile hike back to the jeep with very little water left i was beat, but it was all completely worth it. The next morning I took the head out of the freezer and taped him at 111 7/8" I was shocked beating my old record of 104" with my bow.

Well my oldest son was drawn 3 yrs ago for 6A bull and couldn’t connect. He said if I were to get drawn again his tag would get filled, well he is a man of his word. Friday was a very slow day. Saw nothing. Saturday morning was different. Had a shot at 20 yds when this bull came in, unfortunately missed as it busted us. He was in awe to see an animal that large that close to him. He was shaking so much, I think I was kind of giggling watching him hold his bow. Chased that herd all morning, but cold never get another shot. Sunday went to the same spot and chased a herd all around, shot at a massive 6x, put his pin on 60 yd and shot over its back, after we ranged the tree it was standing next to it was 50 yds. He was bummed. Monday went to a new spot, were on bulls in the morning but not close enough. That evening got on 2 more bulls and was able to fling an arrow at 30 yds but hit a tree. Tuesday morning walked up to a small ravine and a huge herd was walking up to us, we stopped. He drew his bow back and out walked this spiker, before I could say anything about the 4x behind it he let it rip. It happened so fast I didn’t know what to do except ask, which one did you hit? He said the spike. We found blood immediately and found the bull piled up between 2 trees. High 5’s and hooting and hollering. As we were cleaning he asked I want to I find my arrow, I said how you shot it, it may still be in him, he said no way…..well sure as heck it was lodged right in him in the body cavity completely buried. 1st bull down for him and our whole family. Off to Casey’s and a nice lunch somewhere in Flag.

Being the gunner on a pronghorn hunt is way, way different than being the spotter. Especially after you've waited half your life to pull the tag. Here's a quick recap of my 2024 pronghorn hunt Scouted all summer looking for something to really focus my efforts on. Although we did find a few decent bucks, it took until the beginning of August to find the one that really got my heart rate up. We first spotted him a little over a mile away with heatwaves making it tough to really know what he was. The next morning we walked in before sunup in hopes of at least being close enough to get better pics to review. Found him that morning at about 700yds. Something piqued his curiosity and he made our morning way easier: IMG_5745_2.mov He was probably prettiest speed goat I had ever seen, plus he seemed to like me back, so my mind was made up. We named him Heart for obvious reasons. We continued to scout other areas but always made one more pass through to 1) see if we could relocate him 2) see if there were any archery hunters on him and 3) see how many rifle hunters were scouting in that area. As it turns out, we never saw a single vehicle until day two of the hunt. way less stressful that way. As hot as it is, big props to the archery guys... trying to close to bow range with buzz worms crawling around is a ballsy proposition IMG_5433.MOV Sadly, this one died of lead poisoning not long after this video was taken... Fast forward to the day before the opener: I am fortunate that my brother Curt has the ability to work remote thanks to Elon Musk and Star Link so he was in camp early. I wasn't able to get out of work until about noon. Just as I was pointing the Bronco north I get a message from him. He hasn't moved a half mile from the weekend prior. IMG_5982.mov Opening morning: Here we go!!! I had a lot of help from friends and family on this one. had two sets of spotters with Curt and I on the ground the area we had last seen him. As the sun rises we get a call that the buck is in a pasture. We make the half mile walk to get into shooting position only we missed our mark and the buck spotted us before we spotted him. things got real frantic, real fast and I ended up sending a shot across his bow. I lost a little piece of my soul when he kicked that extra gear and was leaving a dust wake across the prairie. We played hide and seek with him for a little under 5 miles. He finally bed and we were able to get to 450yds before we ran out of cover. Its way easier when they don't know you're there- was able to get a comfortable rest, in the shade, and waited for him get up to stretch. Results below: Helluva thing these pronghorn... Hope everyone gets to experience it at least once. Thanks for looking Dave

God continues to bless me, and today was no different! Unit 34a was scheduled to close today at sundown, so I headed down for the final day in hopes of killing a big ole bruin, but just happy to be outdoors! I had never killed a bear with a rifle (3 with bow and one with handgun) so I decided to take the old 30/30 lever action out for a try. This big ole bruin walked out right before sunset and presented himself at 42 yds. 1 shot from the old lever action and he tumbled into the gulch below, but he wasn't done as he reared up and began to come straight for my tree stand! 2 quick shots put a end to that and then the work begun! this bear stood nearly 4ft high as he walked in, a monster of a bear ( maybe some Mexican Griz DNA in him). I was a little nervous as I walked up to him, because he was so big! The pack out sucked! I hurt everywhere now! We green scored the skull at 20.5" tonight! Amazing day for a last day of the hunt! I think I'm done bear hunting! Too old for this stuff! lol. Truly Blessed!

So it seems like I have bad vehicle luck half the time when heading to the mountains. Breaking exhaust on alpine, blew my intercooler on a bison hunt, destroyed a brake caliper on an elk hunt and so on... This trip was the bad half. We typically take 2 vehicles but right before the hunt a lifter went out on the suburban so it stayed home and 5 of us piled in the f250. Day 1 we got busted by a raghorn and took the cows with him, went down a brutal road for the evening and sat a beautiful tank all day until bugles started. Myself and Caliche gave chase while we left my youngest boy at the tank with Bucky the Boston terrier. Me and Kiki got on elk with at least 5 bulls yelling all around us. We just ran out of light and headed back to get Enoch. He had a cow come in for water but Bucky snorted and spooked her off Next am Enoch asked to sleep in so me and Kiki went out way early and started creeping in the dark. Kept following bugles to get close enough before they made the thick treeline. Got busted by one small group of cows but luckily the bull headed back to round up the rest of his gals. He came back in front of us and I blew a cow call and stopped the last girl in her tracks. Boom, cow down. Had a good Samaritan out of globe help us load her into the back of his ranger and we then slid her into my truck and headed back to camp. This is Kiki's 3rd elk. Rolling back to camp my truck was making a sound similar to a power steering pump low on fluid, literally as we are rolling into camp she dies. My fuel pump took a crap. Sunday am a dude from the ADA youth camp gives me a ride to Payson and we rented the only vehicle available in Payson. A four door Kia forte. The truck situation was not gonna change so I decided to go for an evening hunt on the Kia. Let's talk about zero ground clearance! Thank God this car had a nice steel plate underneath protecting the oil pan. So I set Kiki up on a knob overlooking 3 tanks, we came up with a orange hat wave to signal what he was seeing. We set up on the 3rd tank and I headed to the first one to see if anything would head in. Almost dark I see a cow coming in and I haul arse to Enoch waving my orange hat. We blow up the hill and I'm getting a side stich. We finally get to edge of hill and there is no cover. We start crawling into position both breathing hard. The herd bull knows something is up but doesn't know for sure. All the elk are on edge just standing in place trying to to figure out what is going on. Last light is fading fast. What seemed like an eternity Enoch has the elk in his cross hairs, now we are just trying to let him calm down and catch his breath. Finally boom and second cow down. We run and get Caliche while she expires and come up on a huge cow! This is Enochs first elk and second animal. She ends up being a huge cow. Now the work starts. The boys guided me in with lights so the Kia is shining right on her. 2.5 hours later we got an elk in the trunk of a Kia! So we load this elk into coolers and a plastic lines trunk space. Head back to camp to show momma our spoils then zip to jeber circle k for ice. Back to bed at one am. Next am I start changing the fuel pump, pump ends up being broken before installing. End up heading to snowflake to exchange for a new one that's not broken. Finally get the truck running and take the Kia to Young to pick up our 2 cow elk. So this is what 2 cows look like in a Kia trunk, lol. So now we are headed home. Get to the first fuel station and I'm leaking coolant like a siv. Sweet! My coolant reservoir burst a seem, stop at O'Reilly for a new one and swap out at the McDonald's while the fam is eating and we made it home with no more issues. We thanked God for the safe trip home and we are now ready to sleep in our own beds safe and sound. What a trip!

I was able to fill my archery bull tag this year with a dandy. I was lucky enough to put an arrow through this mature bull at 37 yards. I got a complete pass through, with a 125 gr tooth of the arrow broadhead. It’s incredible how tough these things are. At first he didn’t know he had been hit. After a few seconds we walked up a hill, and looked around for a few seconds. He got wobbly legs, and piled over face first. He got up and did a 391 yard death run, breaking trees in half the entire way. I’ve been after a bull of this caliber for a long time. Very fun hunt.

It’s been a long time coming, but finally got it done all by my lonesome on Tuesday with my bow. 7 years in the making and what a relief! These deer have my utmost respect, and I have so much appreciation for the folks that have helped me along the way.

Last year on my Colorado trip I caught a 26" 10 lb brown trout on the fly, I went back this year thinking I would end up disappointed and never top that fish... but God is good! caught this almost identical 26" 10 lb Rainbow on the fly, 100 ft from where I caught the big brown last year! I need to give full credit to my nephew who is a fly fishing guide in Colorado. If any of you are looking for a great guide and trip, message me and I'll get you in touch with him.

Well my youngest boy shot his first Coues deer in 2017, 250 yd shot in unit 33. He was pretty stocked because it was the biggest out of my other two children at that age…so there was some trash talking going on. Since then he’s been drawn for deer and cow elk but unfortunately has never filled his tag, he was getting pretty down on his luck. Well he got drawn for the early general hunt in 33 unit again and was looking forward to filling his tag. Being that Redington is so close to home we were going to do day trips because of the extreme heat this weekend, regardless we were both ready. We got up at 3:30AM on Friday and got to our parking spot at 5:15 and made it to our glassing spot right at 6:00. I told him to glass this hillside where I saw 3 bucks about a month earlier coming down into a draw. I told him I’m focusing on this other area where I’ve seen an absolute bruiser. Well at 6:30AM I see 2 does, I turn to my left and proceed to tell him but as you would know it, he was asleep…go figure. I then turn to the hill he was looking at and instantly see antlers, I said…I’ve got a buck get up. This was at 6:40AM. He shoots straight up and asks how far, he was bedded at 343yds. I have him get behind the 15’s so he can see what landmarks to focus on when he’s behind the rifle. We both back up about 5 yds on more level ground so he can lay prone. He gets the deer in the scope, I dial it to 350 yds and tell him just breathe easy and squeeze the trigger. As I’m looking through my binos all I hear is heaving breathing, I told him to relax the deer isn’t going anywhere. All of sudden he cracks off the first round and I wasn’t ready, I go back to the binos and see nothing, he says he missed but the deer moved to right about 20’. I’m frantically looking to see where it’s at and I hear another crack, I asked where is it, and then a third shot rang out….he then yelled I got it. At that time I do see the deer tumble. It wasn’t dead so he let one more fly and put it down, right at 6:50AM. As I’m patting him on his back he says “ dad my eye really hurts”, I have him look up at me and he has a really nice egg of a welt just above his eye on his forehead. No signs of blood, so I start to giggle and remind him of what I told him not to do with his eye. For the next 1/2 hour all I hear is, dad this hurts and of course I told him remember what I told you. We cross the canyon and locate his buck, I don’t know who was more excited him or me, but I could definitely tell he’s in hog heaven because he just stood there admiring the antlers. We gutted it and started the haul out, we got back to the truck at 9:45AM completely exhausted due to the heat. Pics of him and his 1st deer-2017 Pics of him and his 2nd deer-2024

Since I was recently in Estes Park, Colorado for an art show, a few days before and after the show were spent in Rocky Mountain National Park photographing the rutting elk. Sometimes the elk cooperated and were close, and other times the bulls and their harems were too far away in the middle of Moraine Park. The Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 adapted to the Fuji GFX 100s was used. Many of the images suffered from often having to use a high ISO of 6400, but the Denoise in ACR did a reasonable job on mitigation. More images may be seen on the website. https://www.plateaulightphotography.com/New-Work/Rocky-Mountain-National-Park

Was out pig hunting last week and walked up on this mule deer dead head. I never find anything cool so it was nice to get lucky.

My son was finally blessed with his first kill of any kind. For the last 3 years he has hunted busting his but trying to get a buck. He has a condition with his hips where he has a flat spot on the ball. I know it hurts him but he never complains so I have keep an eye on him. We had to deal with high temperatures down south. On Sunday we went to a spot my cousin said may hold good Muledeer i was thinking it might be easier walking. We we didn't find any muledeer and about 9 we where on the move to another glassing spot. Something told me to stop the truck and glass and within 5 minutes I had 2 whitetail bucks at probably a mile. We got ready and moved in on them. We found them again at 500 yards and watched them bed. Then we moved closer within 300 yards I told my son to settle in it might be a while. Well he was getting restless and we spoke about if he was wanting to stay or head back to the truck. He said let me think about it for a while I responded with ok while you think about it I will glass maybe one of them stood up. And sure as shoot the 2x2 was on his feet. He got excited and told me he would take him he just wanted to get the first one done 300 yards he drilled him after 2 nervous misses. The good old 243 with handloaded 100 gr hornandy sp

Had a good hunt, we were on bulls everyday. I was chasing a specific bull and the closest I could get to him was 86 yds one morning. He had a distinct growling bugle so when he sounded off we knew it was him. Finally on the morning of the 11th day of the hunt, we were after him then he went quiet. We were in the area he was just walking around cause I thought he was gone then all of a sudden we hear a bull make a noise in his bed. I hike down a little bit and get setup, my buddy and his son hang back and start calling, cows first then a bull. The lead cow is now 8 yds from me just staring right through me, the bull is 18 yds behind 2 burnt tree stumps covering his vitals. Its not the same bull im after but this bull is in my lap and im done at this point chasing a certain bull. Im stuck not being able to move, the bull starts coming closer but I cant draw with the cow so close to me. Finally cow looks other direction, I draw, start squeezing release and the cow starts to bust out as im squeezing, bull does some matrix move as I release. Arrow is in flight as I see the bull moving, arrow connects but a absolutely terrible shot. I see my arrow in the bulls neck. Im thinking this is so terrible. He goes maybe 20 yds and blood is just pouring out of him, at that moment, im thinking that bull is a dead bull walking. The herd settles down and the bull is now 40 yds standing broadside just pouring blood still. I take another shot at the bull, probably didnt need it but a bull still standing is still a live bull. I hit a little high and they bust out. My buddy and his son work down to me, they dont know what happen. I tell them I made a terrible shot but there is blood everywhere. We give the bull an hour then the easy tracking job started, looked like someone was just pouring out red paint on the hillside. Bull went 80 yds and piled up in the bottom of the canyon. The bull was broke and I knew his top end was broke but not his second on one side. We had passed this bull 4 or 5 times during the hunt cause he was broke.

My niece had her 3rd and final youth cow hunt this weekend. We started off with a great honey hole tip from my buddy but unfortunately was an off-morning for the local heard...no elk. Beautiful spot with a beautiful sunrise view so definitely a successful morning regardless. Evening hunt we decided to drive and glass our way into a good area where we always see elk. on the way in we spotted a lone cow across a canyon and set up. 520yds facing west with the sun DIRECTLY behind the ridge. Horrible look. we moved down the road a bit and gained about 70 yds for a 450yd set up. Still bad sun but doable. We sat on it for about 45 min waiting for the sun to go behind the peak. 5 min before the sun dipped the elk decided to move. Neice said she was good and had a clean shot and took it. This young lady is ice cold. Zero nerves. Number 3 down after less than 20yd. 260ai built by axis works with massive input and help from Lance. Thanks again my friend. She loves it! aand a HUGE thanks to my little buddy mattman for being a human mule and savi g this old mans life. blue haired assassin has yet to miss when shooting at elk. 2020 480yds 2022 530 yds 2024 450 yds

Tessa was able to kill this giant lion yesterday with the help of Grady Lefebvre and his buddy Josh. It was a long day but well worth it when it comes to hunting with hounds Grady is a bad butt.

Well after many years of holding out for a good archery bull elk hunt this was the year to finally draw a tag. My son will be 10 in February and already itching to go out in the woods and hunt. So this was the year to spend the time to try and go out and shoot a good bull. The hunt came quick and was glad to have a great group of friends to help me for the majority of the hunt. I have hunted with them for many many years and been with them when they were able fill there first archery bull tags. Day 1 started early and out well before sun up. The weather was not helping much as it was warmer than usual and very windy, made hearing bugles difficult. We heard some bugles and set off after them but were not able to get in close enough and see if they what they were. We headed back to the cabin around 11 for some lunch and a nap and made the decision to sit water in the afternoon. I felt with the weather being unseasonably warm that would be our best bet. I sat a tank we have had good success on from 2 till dark but nothing made its way to water. heard a few faint bugles in the distance as the sun set on day one. Day 2 was basically the same result and was not very productive. Moon was bright and up most of the night, temps were warm and elk movement and bugling was very minimal. Day 3 we were able to get on a group of 5 different bulls screaming their heads off. Shooting like came and they continued to bugle but were moving away up the ridge to the area they wanted to bed. I was able to circle around in front of them and get the wind right. Gave out a few meek cow calls and had a calf come running in to my position. She finally moved off and I was able to move up another 100 yards and get to where I thought they might pass by. Shortly after a small young 6x6 stepped out of the think jack pines at 15 yards. We had a good staring match before he decided something wasn't right and walked off. Sat water the rest of the day only to see some turkeys and a whitetail doe. Day 4 we were greeted with cooler temps but socked in fog and rain for most of the morning and then heavy winds all afternoon. Elk were not very active and ended day without much to be excited about. Days 5-7 were very similar, on elk early but couldn't find the right bull I was looking for. I passed a few opportunities in the mornings and sat water in the evenings to with no luck. Days 7-9 we made a pivot to another area in the northern part of the unit. We were on elk in the morning and chased bugles until late hours of the morning. The bulls were smart and always seemed to be in an area you could not get in close to them. Between the topography and thermals it was almost impossible to get on them without blowing the out of the country. Day 10 started out in the same area as the past few days. We were on them early and able to get in a position that the wind was in our favor and elk moving towards us. Unfortunately the only bull we got a glimpse of was the small 5x5 raghorn my buddy called into 7 yards. We had a good laugh at how tough he thought he was hiked the several miles back to the vehicle to get some much needed breakfast and rest. For the evening hunt we decided to go back to the tank I sat the first night and have my buddy go check an area not to far away for bugles. As luck would have it the bulls in that area started screaming about an hour before sunset. he sent me a message and we hightailed it over to where he was stopped. As son as we got out there were 5-6 bulls absolutely screaming, I believe there had to be a hot cow in the area because it was chaos. We got the wind in our face and slowly started sneaking in on the bull we thought sounded the meanest. We were closing the ground but light was fading fast. The bull was glunking and decided to give out a few subtle cow calls and that did the trick. He came walking right in quartering slightly to me and stopped to bugle at for 45 yards. I let the arrow go and connected just behind his shoulder. The bull trotted up the ridge a little bit and bedded down just in sight. Just like that the hunt was over, he wasn't the monster bull I had hoped and dreamt about. But he was a cool old bull that had been in his fair share of skirmishes and thorough many ruts. His front teeth were worn to the gums and had some scares to show his age. we got him taken care of in a timely manner and the meat to the processor to fill the freezer for the family and close friends. Look forward to hunting with my boy in the years to come and hope it doe not take another 17 years to draw an archery bull tag IMG_4804.MOV

Wife arrowed this one at 14 yards just as the sun was rising.

My son made a great shot on this Tom opening morning. It was fun to hear him gobble when he was really close, it was so loud you can almost feel it. He strutted for us for like 15 minutes. I was happy my son was patient and waited for the right opportunity and got a clean one shot kill. This is his third turkey and it is fun to see him get so excited. I am glad I get to share these hunts and memories with him each year.

After years of waiting to get a turkey tag I finally completed a bucket list item. My brother called in this bird in on the 2nd day I was able to hunt. 2oz of #7 1/2 shot bing pushed by about 5 drams of black powder. W C Scott and Son 8 gauge hammer gun made in 1888. Picture of my brother posing with my 8 gauge and bird.

What do all figure it will score? Not that score is important but this kid really deserved this buck.

Hopefully this wasn’t the last mature buck in the unit